UNKNOWN ANTARCTIC

Evening Star, Issue 21081, 19 April 1932, Page 7

UNKNOWN ANTARCTIC

AN AMERICAN EXPEDITION EXPLORATION BY PLANE Press Association—By Telegraph-Copyright. NEW YORK, April 17. The American Geographical Society, in a brief announcement to-day, revealed that tentative plans had been completed for a project to send an expedition into the Antarctic in the winter of 1933-1931, headed by Lincoln Ellsworth and Bernt Balchen, in an attempt to “ bisect by aeroplane the area known as the Antarctic Continent.” The expedition will probably leave New York in September, 1933, and proceed to the base at Framheim, Bay of Will' s, via Australia. A flight .will be made in an easterly direction across the entire unknown region which separates Ross and Weddell Seas, a distance of approximately 1,450 miles, and a return will be made without a landing. The proposed course follows directly between the Queen Maud Mountains in King Edward and Seventh Land and Marie Byrd Land. The first 1,200 miles will be over uncharted regions until the Filchner shelf on the borders of Weddell Sea is sighted. The flyers will photograph all the prominent features of the land covered, record the weather conditions, and take note of the character of the ice surface, and will thus be able to supply data for detailed ground work in the event of future expeditions. They hope also to answer the important question: “ Do the great ocean indentations forming Weddell Sea on one side and Ross Sea on the other continue as a trough, perhaps below sea level, dividing the Antarctic Continent into two rugged laud masses, or do the mountains in Graham Land continue across the continent and join the Queen Maud Range?”' The Geographical Society has explained that the expedition is purely for discovery purposes, and will probably carry a dozen men. It is hoped that the expedition will return to America by May. Balohen is negotiating for the construction of a special aeroplane.